Workshops Bundle – Classes 1-8 

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Workshops Bundle – Classes 1-8

$192.00

Workshop Bundle

Eight Classes – 2 hours each, with Donna Farhi.

SKU: LSE-DF-Bndll-All Category:

Workshop #1 Embodying “Yield”: Aligning the Body with Ground, Gravity and Space

How surely gravity’s law,

strong as an ocean current,

takes hold of even the smallest thing

and pulls it toward the heart of the world.

~ Rilke, The Book of Hours II.16

In this workshop international teacher and writer Donna Farhi will take you on an experiential extravaganza combining poetry, brief lecture, and 1-1/2 hour gentle asana practice finishing with deep relaxation.

What conditions need to be present for the body to breathe effortlessly and to move with graceful ease? When we align ourselves with the support of the earth through learning to yield we can utilize the force of gravity to our advantage, creating an effortless “self-renewing” quality to sitting, standing and moving. Breathing unfolds as a natural consequence of this relationship of trust: trust in ourselves and trust in nature.

Embodying yield also helps us to downshift out of the upward/outward trajectory of the fight, flight or freeze response back into the grounded support of our parasympathetic and enteric nervous system. In doing so we can restore a sense of relaxation and resilience during a time when many of us feel overwhelmed and uncertain.

This workshop is an unusual opportunity to gain access to Donna’s teaching in a short-form format.

For this workshop you will need:

• Note paper and pen

• yoga mat, 3 blankets, 1 bolster, block and yoga belt, folding chair or dining room chair.

Livestream #2 From Inertia to Energy: When You Can’t Get Off the Floor

Workshop #2 From Inertia to Energy: When You Can’t Get Off the Floor

This is what Nature can teach us:

To fall,

patiently to trust our heaviness.

even a bird has to do that

before she can fly.

~ Rilke, The Book of Hours II.16

As we collectively face the challenges that COVID-19 have brought into our lives, many of us are experiencing a deep sense of fatigue that may have been just under the surface for quite some time: suppressed and supplanted by the grinding need to be perpetually productive. This physical lethargy may also be accompanied by feelings of sadness, depression and anxiety.

In this workshop, international teacher and writer Donna Farhi will share some strategies for accepting where we are and using this as a steppingstone to gently lure ourselves out of inertia. Instead of abandoning practice altogether, we can relish the soothing support of the ground and how the body is wisely attempting to downshift into the parasympathetic nervous system to build new resources. Our time on the floor will focus on increasing circulation and vitality through gradually freeing up tension in the neck, shoulders and spine. We’ll utilize gentle asanas, spinal oscillation and twists, as well as longer stays in supported Restorative postures, completing our time together with the profoundly relaxing practice of Yoga Nidra.

For this workshop you will need:

• Note paper and pen

• yoga mat, 3 blankets, 1 bolster, block and yoga belt, a thin hand towel and 3 rubber bands, folding chair or dining room chair.

Livestream #3 Internal Respiration: The Substratum of our Aliveness

Workshop #3 Internal Respiration: The Substratum of our Aliveness

An Immoral said, “To learn the way of the Tao is like recalling what you have eaten in the morning.  It is not impossible to do.  To treasure breath is like loving your face and your eyes.  It has never been unattainable.”

~ Master Great Nothing of Sung-Shan, Taoist Canon on Breathing

In this workshop, international teacher and writer Donna Farhi will guide you through a deep exploration of the pathways into and the experience of cellular respiration.  Our time together will combine brief lecture, guided inquiry and gentle asana practice finishing with the practice of Yoga Nidra.

Most of us are aware of external respiration: the filling and emptying of air into and out of the lungs supporting by the movement of the thoracic diaphragm.  But what does this function serve?  The very act of breathing is impelled by the ravenous requirement of our cells for oxygen and nutrients.  As oxygen is transferred from the lungs into our blood it must be delivered to trillions of cells throughout our body.  Internal respiration, otherwise known as  cellular respiration, lies at the heart of our vitality, well-being and health.  Becoming aware of this level of our somatic experience can utterly transform our yoga practice, helping us to attune to how we assist or obstruct this most vital process.  Attuning to the inner hum of this most basic process moves the mind into a meditative state of being and resting and may facilitate a renewed sense of calm and quietude.

For this workshop you will need:

• Note paper and pen

• yoga mat, 3 blankets, 1 bolster, block and yoga belt, bath towel and hand towel, folding chair or dining room chair.

Livestream #4 Centering Down: Turning Inwards to Expand Outwards

Workshop #4 Centering Down: Turning Inwards to Expand Outwards

“Every moment is a moment of learning.  Every moment is a new moment if we allow it.  Every moment can be an old moment if we allow that, and you can choose. . . A new connection, a new friendship, a new husband, a new wife . . . so the question is that you permit your nervous system to be awake for the moments, and moments, and moments.  And if you would be there for it, how would this influence your life?”

~ Charlotte Selver, pioneer of Sensory Awareness

Over three years ago, international teacher Donna Farhi broke her pelvis in two places as a result of serious riding accident.  This experience led her to develop many innovative and effective practices for restoring core symmetry and strength, neuromuscular coordination and stability. Her many months and years of slow rehabilitation also allowed her to fully experience the extraordinary ability of the body to “self-suggest” what is needed and how through accepting and celebrating tiny increments of improvement we can rebuild extraordinary capacity.

In this workshop Donna will share a well-rounded practice protocol that begins with deep psoas release work, progresses to core strengthening work on the ground and standing, and finishes with supine core stabilization practices.  Woven in between the lines of each of these practices is the yogic practice of “yama” or “constraint”, which moves us away from outward striving and brings the mind back into the present moment.  Through continually retracing our steps inwards we build the capacity to expand and reach outwards.  Embodying the deep honesty of constraint, we paradoxically build a pathway to greater and greater levels of freedom.

For this workshop you will need:

• Note paper and pen

• yoga mat, 3 blankets, 1 bolster, block and yoga belt, a Muscle Release Ball (Gertie Ball) 19 centimetres is ideal, folding chair or dining room chair.

Livestream #5 Back Bending with Ease: Developmental Support (Part One)

Workshop #5 Back Bending with Ease: Developmental Support (Part One)

To maintain a graceful posture throughout our lives we need to do a little extension every day to counter the tendency of the spine to progressively become more rounded or kyphotic.

While a little spinal extension is good, deep and repetitive back bending can compromise the integrity of the spine.

What we do need is regular, gentle and easeful extension that maintains the fluid uprightness of the spine and keeps the spine strong for sitting, standing and moving.

In this workshop we’ll explore the underlying support of a human developmental movement pattern in creating ease during spinal extension.

Donna would like to assure all participants that she herself has limited extension of her spine and is more interested in helping you learn how to safely and enjoyably extend your back than in entertaining (or injuring you) with extreme back bending postures.

You will come away from this clinic with invaluable tools for both correcting imbalances of the spine and improving postural alignment.

All ages and abilities welcome.

Livestream #6 Back Bending with Ease: Structural Support (Part Two)

Workshop #6 Back Bending with Ease: Structural Support (Part Two)

Our culture conditions us to believe that as we age we begin an inevitable decline towards a rounded and compressed spine.  This decline, however,  is neither inevitable or desirable and there are many accessible practices we can implement in our yoga routine to maintain youthful elasticity.  Even those who come to yoga late in life can vastly improve the fluidity, strength and verticality of their bodily experience.

In this workshop Donna will work with you to strengthen structurally weak and vulnerable areas of the spine, while targeting those areas of the back that can tend towards rigidity and immobility.

We’ll move through a well-rounded practice that you can integrate into your weekly routine, as well as mini-practices that you can incorporate into daily life to reduce the effects of long hours of sitting.

Slouch no more!

Restore your body’s capacity to self-support and sustain effortless verticality.

Workshop #7 Foundations of Restoratives (Part One): Balance, Sedate, Stimulate

In this workshop we will explore one of the first reflexes to develop that underlies our connection and bonding with the earth.  

The tonic labyrinthine reflex evokes an increased tonus, aliveness and weightedness when the front, side or back of the body makes contact with the ground.  

Through understanding these innate responses in your body you can begin to decipher the way in which Restorative Yoga postures can balance, sedate or stimulate your nervous system.

Donna will guide you through several key Restorative postures with a focus on supporting lung health and deepening breathing function.

She will also offer some creative adaptations for those with movement restrictions.

For this workshop you will need:

  • yoga mat, block and belt
  • 3-4 blankets
  • 2 bolsters
  • Chair to support your lower legs
  • Bath towel (preferably thick and fluffy!)

Workshop #8 Foundations of Restoratives (Part Two): Cooling and Calming

We all experience times when we feel agitated, anxious and unsettled.  During these times we can use our yoga practice as a form of self-soothing to recalibrate and build greater resilience.

Donna will guide you in a Restorative Yoga sequence designed to draw the body and mind into a state of tranquillity through encouraging the flow of apana vayu, the downward flow of prana to the pelvic basin.

This practice is highly adaptable: for women during their menstruation cycle, for those experiencing hot flashes and low energy during menopause, or simply for times when we are suffering from fatigue, anxiety or overwhelm.

For this workshop you will need:

  • yoga mat, block and belt
  • 3-4 blankets
  • 1-2 bolsters
  • Dining room chair with a firm back
  • 2 firm pillows
  • 2 yoga blocks OR 2 cushions of about the same size
  • Bath towel (preferably thick and fluffy!)
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